While the original Metal Gear games had their characters designs parodying Hollywood actors, the Metal Gear Solid games established a series of consistent designs based on Shinkawa's ideas of what would appeal to gamers. Additionally, several of the characters he designs follow Kojima and the other staff's ideas. Critical reception of the game's cast has been positive as publications praised their personalities and roles within the series.

Much as Metal Gear began as a pastiche of action movies of the time, characters were pastiches of contemporary action movie heroes.[1][2] Once Yoji Shinkawa started designing the characters in PlayStation's Metal Gear Solid, they were given their respective established visual appearances. As a result of the console's limitations, Shinkawa designed them an idea that would appeal to gamers.[3] Because of the timeskip between titles, a few of the characters have been redesigned to fit in the game's year. With the improvements from new video game consoles like the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, the staff gave the characters a more realistic look starting with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty although they initially had doubts about it.[4] This brought difficulties to the staff as they had to make the faces more realistic.[3] When illustrating characters, Shinkawa does not focus on their minor details,[3] such as the eyes which sometimes does not try to draw, instead illustrating something more symoblic.[5] While Solid Snake remained easy to illustrate as a result of him having a consistent design to the point Big Boss' younger self, Naked Snake, was conceived making minor changes to the original version of Solid Snake, other characters were more time-consuming owing.[6]

During their debuts, player-characters Solid Snake and Raiden are meant to represent the player while in the following titles they acquire more defined personalities.[7][8] As a result of the Snake's increasing experience in combat across the series, Kojima attempted creating more challenging antagonists for the boss battles. This resulted in Big Boss' clones from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 that had the same abilities as Solid Snake, the legendary Cobra Unit from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater who participated in World War II and the Beauty and the Beast Corps from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that had few human traits.[9] While villains during the first games were given detailed backstories, the Cobra Unit members were intended to have little information known about them, resulting in a significant impact in the gamers upon their deaths following their boss battles. This gave Shinkawa difficulties in conceptualizing their visual appearances as a result of having little to no background details.[6] By Metal Gear Solid 2, Kojima was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels to introduce a sidekick character in order to view Snake from a different perspective.[10]

Metal Gear Solid also marks the first time that character were given voice actors with Solid Snake and Big Boss' younger self being voiced by Akio Ōtsuka. Ōtsuka remembers being surprised during his debut as a result of the large amount of dialogue Snake was given.[11] In the English adaptations, the casting was directed by Kris Zimmerman and supervised by a member from Konami.[12] Solid Snake's voice actor was David Hayter who, despite having issues with some of the dialogue in Metal Gear Solid, became attached to the series.[13]

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク,Soriddo Sunēku?) is the primary protagonist of the series. In both Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Snake is a rookie member from FOXHOUND and is given the mission to find and destroy the Metal Gear located within Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land.[14] After success both times, Snake is confronted each time by his own superior and tutor Big Boss as his main enemy.[15] Afterwards, Solid Snake learns that he was artificially conceived from Big Boss's genes as he fights against his terrorist twin Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid,[16] and assists Raiden in fighting against Solidus Snake in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. By Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he gives himself the nickname Old Snake (オールド・スネーク,Ōrudo Sunēku?) due to his accelerated aging process and is the playable character once more.[17] Solid Snake is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and David Hayter in English.[11][13]

Big Boss (ビッグ・ボス,Biggu Bosu?) is known as the greatest soldier that ever lived. In Metal Gear, Big Boss is Solid Snake's commanding officer but reveals himself to be the enemy leader by the game's epilogue.[18] In Metal Gear 2, he fights Snake a second time to which he's apparently being killed. The character's past is explored in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater where he's a member of FOX special forces under the codename Naked Snake (ネイキッド・スネーク,Neikiddo Sunēku?).[19] After defeating his legendary war hero mentor The Boss, he gains the title "Big Boss".[20] While dealing with his mentor's death, he establishes his own groups: FOXHOUND in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Militaires Sans Frontières in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.[21] Naked Snake shares Solid Snake's voice actors (Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and David Hayter in English), Big Boss is voiced by Chikao Ōtsuka and Richard Doyle, and Punished Snake / Venom Snake is voiced by Kiefer Sutherland.[22][23]

Gray Fox (グレイ・フォックス,Gurei Fokkusu?, spelled "Grey Fox" in the MSX2 games) was a high-ranking agent of FOXHOUND. First appearing in the original Metal Gear, he goes missing during a mission prior to the game's events with his last transmission being a cryptic message simply saying "Metal Gear".[24] He returns in both Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as an enemy of Snake while revealing his real name Frank Jaeger (フランク・イェーガー,Furanku Yēgā?, "Frank Yeager" in the MSX2 version) and in Metal Gear Solid fighting Liquid Snake's army as the original Cyborg Ninja. For Japanese, Gray Fox is voiced by Kaneto ShiozawaMetal Gear Solid and Jun Fukuyama in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. For English, the character is voiced by Greg Eagles in Metal Gear Solid, Rob Paulsen for the following titles, and Larc Spies in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar is an Eastern engineer responsible for creating the TX-55 Metal Gearmecha in the original Metal Gear, as well the TX-11 Arnold (Bloody Brad) androids.[25] Dr. Pettrovich is one of the hostages Snake must rescue along with his daughter Ellen. In Metal Gear 2, Dr. Pettrovich bitterly defects to Zanzibar Land and develops Metal Gear D after being rejected by the scientific community. He comes in contact with Snake in the game while posing as a hostage, but attacks him after the truth is revealed.[26] He somehow survives and is mentioned in Metal Gear Solid 4 as the scientist who saved Raiden's life after he was turned into a cyborg by The Patriots.[27]

Kyle Schneider (カイル・シュナイダー,Kairu Shunaidā?) is the leader of a resistance movement against Outer Heaven in Metal Gear, who helps Snake as a radio contact.[28] He discovers the identity of the Outer Heaven leader, but is silenced before he can mention his name.[29] In Metal Gear 2, Schneider appears under the guise of "Black Color" ("Black Ninja" in the re-releases), a high-tech ninja under the service of Zanzibarland and the first boss in the game.[30] Solid Snake defeats him during a battle but does not learn his true identity until he collapses.[31] He then reveals to Snake that NATO led a bombing raid against Outer Heaven, not caring about the war orphans or war refugees.[32] Before dying, he also tells Snake that Big Boss had forgiven the resistance for being against him, and rescued as many of them as he could from the bombings, both Outer Heaven personnel and Resistance members.[33]

Col. Roy Campbell (ロイ・キャンベル大佐,Roi Kyanberu Taisa?, "Roy Kyanbel" in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2), is a commanding officer of FOXHOUND.[24] Introduced in Metal Gear 2, he serves as Solid Snake's primary radio contact in the game and gives information about his mission objective and general gameplay tips.[34]

In Metal Gear Solid, Campbell has more of a personal stake in a new mission, as his niece (who is later revealed to be his daughter) Meryl Silverburgh is held captive by the revolutionary force Snake is battling.[35] In Metal Gear Solid 2, Campbell is impersonated by "Colonel", Raiden's commanding officer who supports him via codec. When a computer virus starts taking effect on Arsenal Gear, it is revealed that the Colonel is an elaborate A.I. constructed by supercomputer GW from The Patriots in order to manipulate Raiden.[36]

Although he is not involved in the main story, Campbell makes a voice only cameo in Metal Gear Solid 3 during the game over screen scolding Snake for causing a time paradox if the player kills certain supporting characters. He also appears in the Ape Escape crossover minigame "Snake vs. Monkey". In Portable Ops, a young version of Campbell is imprisoned by the FOX unit in South America with Big Boss (Naked Snake). The two escape and begin to recruit disenfranchised enemy soldiers and other allies to their cause. While in the original version of Portable Ops, Campbell cannot be added as a member of Snake's squad, because he had a broken leg at the time and thus only communicates with the player via the radio, he can be added in the expanded version, although only if the player beats Extreme Mode.[37]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Campbell works for a UN Security Council advisory body that monitors PMC activities.[38] He sends Solid Snake on an unofficial mission to assassinate Liquid Ocelot in order to put a stop to his plans. He provides the means of transportation Snake uses to complete his mission.[39] He is married to Rosemary which causes a rift between him and Meryl (who is now aware that Campbell is her father). However, the marriage is a sham used to fool the Patriots and protect her (and Raiden's) son John.[40]

Outside the main canon, Campbell reprises his role as Snake's reluctant commanding officer in the Game Boy Color game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, a side-story which serves as an alternate sequel to the events of the original Metal Gear. Campbell, along with Otacon and Mei Ling serves as one of Snake's codec contacts in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He also makes a brief codec appearance in a minigame in Ape Escape 3.

In the Japanese version, Roy Campbell was voiced by Takeshi Aono (in most Japanese games) and by Toshio Furukawa (in Portable Ops). In the English version, the character is voiced by Paul Eiding (for most English games), by Toshio Furukawa (in Portable Ops) and by Michael McColl (in Ape Escape 3). However, Takeshi Aono's death caused the character to never appear in any future Metal Gear games out of respect.[41]

Introduced in Metal Gear 2, he's a member of FOXHOUND and one of Solid Snake's radio contacts. In Metal Gear Solid, Master is murdered prior to the game's events and Liquid Snake assumes Miller's identity to trick Snake to unknowingly do Liquid's bidding.[42] Miller was originally depicted as an Asian-looking man with black hair in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 while the character in Metal Gear Solid is depicted with blond hair and aviator sunglasses. Revisions of Metal Gear 2 following the 2004 mobile phone version depicted Miller in this design. Various materials stated also that he was originally a third-generation Japanese-American who was born 60 years after his grandparents immigrated to America.[43]

In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Kaz serves as second-in-command in Big Boss's Militaires Sans Frontières mercenary group.[44] The game also retconned his upbringing as the son of a US officer and a Japanese woman, and also notes his brief service in the JSDF.[45] In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, he survives the destruction of Mother Base. He is later captured by Soviet forces before the events of The Phantom Pain. His rescue at the hands of Big Boss enables him to help in the expansion of the new Diamond Dogs mercenary group, wearing a large trenchcoat and beret while walking with a limp having lost his left leg and right arm.

Dr. Kio Marv is a Czechoslovak biotechnologist and erstwhile video game designer. In the backstory of Solid Snake, Marv successfully creates a new algae species called OILIX that could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort. Marv presented the algae to the World Energy Conference in Prague, and was on his way to a demonstration in the United States when he was kidnapped by soldiers from Zanzibarland. Solid Snake is brought out of retirement by FOXHOUND's new commander, Roy Campbell, and is sent to Zanzibarland to rescue Dr. Marv. However, he dies of torture in his cell and left behind the OILIX plans for Snake to find.[47]

Holly White is an American freelancejournalist. Born from a French mother and an English father, she became interested in literature at an early age and was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage in Afghanistan plus an Emmy Award (mistakenly referred to in the original manual as a Grammy Award) for her documentary, Unknown Bloodstream. Her newfound fame eventually gets her the attention of the CIA. She infiltrates Zanzibarland as a journalist and assists Solid Snake over the course of the mission.[47]

Natasha Marcova, or Gustava Heffner in later versions, is a former professional figure skater. Once known as one of the world's best figure skaters (with stints in the world championships and the Olympics under her belt), Heffner was stripped of her competition rights after being caught in an attempt to seek political asylum in Canada with Frank Jaeger. She sought to redeem herself by joining the StB (Czechoslovak State Security). She is escorting Dr. Marv to America when Zanzibarland agents hijack their plane.[47] Later in the game, she joins Snake in rescuing Dr Marv, but dies when Jaeger (as Gray Fox in Metal Gear D) destroys the bridge she is on.

FOXHOUND's resident strategist and advisor, Kessler's (known as George Kasler in other versions) military career includes service with mercenaries from South Africa and the French Foreign Legion, plus a short stint in negotiation and combat intelligence-gathering. He is also a veteran of the 1997 Mercenary War of Independence in Zanzibarland, fighting the CIS Army. Kessler's service earns him a lasting reputation in the mercenary community; only mercenaries who have worked with him can be truly recognized as the best in the world.[47]

Yozef Norden, or Johan Jacobsen in later versions, is a zoologist specializing in the preservation of all endangered species. He is the vice-president of the fictional Worldwide Animal Rights Federation and works for the science magazine Maxwell. He is revealed to have been acquainted with Dr Madnar since their days in college and is in Zanzibarland to study indigenous animals.[47]

In Metal Gear Solid, she is the chief of FOXHOUND's medical staff and part of the support crew assembled to assist Solid Snake, providing the player with information on the FOXHOUND members Snake faces.[48] Being Gray Fox's adopted sister, she attempted to get revenge on Snake[49] for nearly killing her brother in Outer Haven.[50] When instructed to inject Snake with the FOXDIE virus, she secretly modifies it so that it will kill Snake at a random moment in addition to its original programming.[39] As the game progresses, Naomi realizes that some of her original perceptions of him were wrong and is later remorseful for modifying the virus. Uncertain of when exactly the FOXDIE would kill Snake, Naomi tells him to live his life to the fullest in whatever time he had left.[51] Afterwards, Nastasha Romanenko's account reveals that Naomi was briefly arrested following the Shadow Moses incident until her escape.[52]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Naomi is working with Liquid Ocelot in order to hijack the SOP battlefield control system,[39] but joins Snake's group once again. She becomes romantically involved with Otacon and forms a friendship with Sunny. When they return to Shadow Moses, Naomi reveals that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer that has been kept in check by nanomachines and, guilt-ridden over her past mistakes, commits suicide by disabling them.[53]

Mei Ling (美玲（メイ・リン）,Mei Rin?) is a Chinese-American data analyst in charge of saving the player's progress in Metal Gear Solid. She invents Solid Snake's wireless communication system, the codec radio, as well as the Soliton Radar, which detects the positions and field of vision of nearby enemy soldiers.[54] Every time Snake saves his data, Mei Ling provides him with advice through Chinese proverbs, as well as quotations from Western authors. In the Japanese version, Mei Ling only quoted Chinese proverbs: she would cite the original proverb in Chinese and then explain its meaning to Snake in Japanese. According to Kojima, this made some of the proverbs redundant after translating them to English, since Mei Ling would be saying the same thing twice.[55] In Metal Gear Solid 2, Mei Ling is part of Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear organization, but assists Snake and Otacon off-screen, attempting to steal equipment from the SSCEN. She makes a voice-only cameo in the game as an easter egg during the Tanker chapter, after the player has saved their progress 13 times.[56]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Mei Ling commands the museum-turned-training vessel USS Missouri and provides Snake and Otacon with backup, courtesy of her connections from the SSCEN.[39][57]

First appearing in Metal Gear Solid, he is an enemy guard whose uniform is stolen by Meryl Silverburgh and again later in the game whilst Solid Snake is being held in-between torture sessions with Revolver Ocelot while suffering from a cold and diarrhea. Johnny's character is never named in the game and is listed only in the ending credits as Johnny Sasaki (ジョニー 佐々木,Jonī Sasaki?). The surname Sasaki comes from the game's character model designer Hideki Sasaki. According to the developers' commentary in Metal Gear Solid: Integral, Hideki was known among the staff for his slackoff behavior and the character was included in the game as a running gag.[59]

Johnny later returns for a pair of voice-over only cameos in Metal Gear Solid 2.[56] In an early version of the game's story, his full name was to be Johnny Sasaki Slater (ジョニー・佐々木・スレイター,Jonī Sasaki Sureitā?) and originally had a minor role in the story in which his character (a spy for the Patriots) would die from a pacemaker malfunction after coming in contact with Raiden.[60] During the game, Raiden can hear Johnny talking using a directional mic in Big Shell.[56]

In the game of Metal Gear Solid 4, Johnny is nicknamed Akiba(アキバ?) and is a member of Meryl's Rat Patrol Team 01. Also, his face is revealed for the first time in the series. He and Meryl assist Snake in Outer Haven by allowing him time to reach the server room. It is revealed that he had been in love with Meryl since he first saw her at Shadow Moses, and they get married in the epilogue. Unlike all of the other soldiers in the Army and the PMCs, Johnny does not have nanomachines since he always avoided the injections due to his trypanophobia; the lack of such explains his frequent spells of colds and diarrhea. While this gives him poor combat performance in comparison to his squad mates, he is completely immune to Liquid Ocelot's ability to directly attack soldiers' nanomachines. He also appears in the first Metal Gear Online expansion as a playable character.[61]

Psycho Mantis (サイコ・マンティス?) is a psychic expert for the FOXHOUND unit. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he came to America looking for a job. Prior to joining FOXHOUND, he worked with the KGB and the FBI. His special abilities include the psychic powers of psychokinesis and telepathy. As a result of being disgusted with his father's inner thoughts, he burned his own village and started despising people.[62] He also claims to be able to read the future, but this is implied to be a use of telepathy to find out what his opponents will do next as opposed to true clairvoyance. His predictions also seem to be susceptible to change, stating that Snake has a large place in Meryl's heart, but cannot see if their futures lie together. In Metal Gear Solid, Mantis encounters Snake twice, the first time he takes control of Meryl's mind, the second encounter he and Snake do battle, with Mantis being killed.[63] After defeating Screaming Mantis in Metal Gear Solid 4, the original Mantis makes an appearance, attempting to "read your mind" and manipulate the controller as before, but cannot due to the advanced systems. However, he rejoices and screams "YES! Vibration is back!" before vanishing into the air. Drebin later reveals that the Beauty and the Beast Corps had been under the control of Mantis all along.[64]

Psycho Mantis was polled as the 8th Greatest Video Game Villain of All Time by IGN, and his boss battle being the 2nd Greatest Moment in Gaming.[65][66] In Japanese, Psycho Mantis is voiced by Kazuyuki Sogabe in Metal Gear Solid and Shōzō Iizuka in Metal Gear Solid 4. In English, the character is voiced by Doug Stone.

Sniper Wolf (スナイパー・ウルフ,Sunaipā Urufu?) is the Iraqi-Kurd sharpshooter of the FOXHOUND unit. She uses a Heckler & Koch PSG1.[67][68] Though snipers usually work in pairs, Sniper Wolf works alone.[69] She is also another "disciple" of Big Boss, whom she sees as a modern-day version of the Kurdish sultan Saladin.[70] During the takeover, she is friendly to Otacon, allowing him to feed the wolves and giving him a handkerchief. Otacon becomes infatuated with her and is left devastated by her death. During Metal Gear Solid, she fights Solid Snake twice, the first time results in Meryl being captured, Wolf with mild blood loss, and Snake being tortured,[71] in the second battle she is killed.[72] Sniper Wolf is voiced by Naoko Nakamura in Japanese and Tasia Valenza in English.

Vulcan Raven (バルカン・レイブン?) is an Inuit member of FOXHOUND who wields a giant Vulcan cannon and has shamanic powers of intuition. He is able to discern Solid Snake's heritage and was present in Outer Heaven prior to his involvement at FOXHOUND.[73][74] In Metal Gear Solid, he does battle with Snake twice, the first battle with Raven in an M1 Abrams tank,[75] the second in a freezer with Raven being killed. During his death scene he gives info on the real identity of the DARPA Chief. He also leaves Snake with a cryptic message of his violent future before his body is completely devoured by ravens.[76] Vulcan Raven is voiced by Yukitoshi Hori in Japanese and Peter Lurie in English.

Decoy Octopus (デコイ・オクトパス?) is a member of FOXHOUND that specializes in impersonation; he even injects the blood of those he impersonates into his own body for a more "perfect" disguise. Along with the rest of his unit, he went rogue during the Shadow Moses island incident. In Metal Gear Solid, he impersonates Donald Anderson after Ocelot killed the DARPA Chief during Ocelot's interrogation.[76][77] As Anderson, he lies to Solid Snake about having his detonation code found out by Psycho Mantis and also informs Snake of the PAL override system before being killed by the FoxDie virus.[78] While Decoy Octopus's original voice is unknown, the Donald Anderson impersonation is voiced by Masaharu Sato in Japanese and Greg Eagles in English.

Nastasha Romanenko (ナスターシャ・ロマネンコ?) is an agent of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and an expert on nuclear topics. She was born in Ukrainian SSR and was just ten years old when the Chernobyl disaster took place.[79] In both Metal Gear Solid and its GameCube remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, she is Solid Snake's contact on matters related to nuclear weapons.[80] After the game's events, her character writes an autobiography titled In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth and then forms the anti-proliferation group "Philanthropy" with the profits she made.[60] This fictional publication serves as a plot summary of Metal Gear Solid (and reveals previously undisclosed plot details about the events of the games), and is included as a bonus feature in Metal Gear Solid 2.[79] Nastasha Romanenko is voiced by Eiko Yamada in Japanese and Renee Raudman in English.

Donald Anderson (ドナルド・アンダーソン?) is the office chief of DARPA. As an advocate of the nuclear retaliation theory, he funds the Metal Gear REX project with ArmsTech as part of the US' black budget but was taken hostage by FOXHOUND.[81] In Metal Gear Solid, he recognized Revolver Ocelot during his torture as not truly working for the terrorists.[77] After Ocelot "accidentally" killed Anderson, he was impersonated by Decoy Octopus to fool Solid Snake into using the card keys.

In his youth, he goes by the codename Sigint (シギント?) as Naked Snake's technical advisor during Metal Gear Solid 3 as well as in Portable Ops. In Metal Gear Solid 4, it is revealed that Sigint was one of the Patriots' founding members who sided with Zero and that Anderson's death was planned by EVA and Ocelot to get to Zero.[82]

Kenneth Baker (ケネス・ベイカー?) is the president of ArmsTech, one of the leading manufacturers of the arms industry and taken prisoner by FOXHOUND.[81] In Metal Gear Solid, he is tortured by Revolver Ocelot, then rescued by Solid Snake. After he gives away his detonation code to Ocelot, Snake is unable to rescue him before as he is killed by the FoxDie virus.[78] He is the first person to realize that FoxDie exists and nearly tells Snake the truth about his mission, but succumbs to the virus before he can finish his sentence. Kenneth Baker is voiced by Yuzuru Fujimoto in Japanese and Allan Lurie in English.

Jim Houseman (ジム・ハウスマン?) is the United States Secretary of Defense who observes the situation on Shadow Moses Island aboard an AWACS command plane.[81] He makes only one appearance at the end of Metal Gear Solid via CODEC where he orders the Shadow Moses base to be bombed.[83] According to In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, he commits suicide following the events of the game but Nastasha Romanenko suggests he was murdered.[84] Jim Houseman is voiced by Tomohisa Asō in Japanese and William Bassett in English.

Olga Gurlukovich (オルガ・ゴルルコビッチ,Oruga Gorurukobitchi?) (Ольга Гурлукович) is a member of her father's mercenary unit during Metal Gear Solid 2.[24] Her character was somewhat based on Meryl Silverburgh yet Kojima wanted to make her look like a professional rather than a rookie.[85] She first appears in the Tanker chapter as a member of her father's mercenary unit and is the sole boss character in this portion of the game. She takes over her father's unit after his death in the Tanker chapter, lending her team to the Sons of Liberty terrorist faction.[86] She is actually an unwilling agent for the Patriots, who are holding her child hostage, and assists Raiden as the second Cyborg Ninja calling herself Mr. X,[87] simulating Gray Fox during Metal Gear Solid.[88] By doing so, she is betraying her comrades to ensure her child's safety, a realization that makes her feel guilty. After she reveals herself to Solidus in order to save Raiden, she is killed with a shot to the head.[89] Olga Gurlukovich is voiced by Kyoko Terase in Japanese and Vanessa Marshall in English.

Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich (セルゲイ・ゴルルコビッチ,Serugei Gorurukobitchi?) (Сергей Гурлукович) is Olga Gurlukovich's father and Revolver Ocelot's former commanding officer. An officer in Russia's Spetsnaz and GRU, he leads his personal team of mercenaries who seizes the Discovery during the Tanker chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2 for the purpose of hijacking Metal Gear RAY.[90] In the course of the operation, Gurlukovich is betrayed and killed by Ocelot due to the Patriots wanting RAY for their cause.[91] Gurlukovich was also the one who provided a Hind-D helicopter to Liquid Snake in the previous game. Sergei Gurlukovich is voiced by Osamu Saka in Japanese and Earl Boen in English.

General Scott Dolph (スコット・ドルフ,Sukotto Dorufu?) is the commandant of the Marine Corps and Fortune's father. In the Tanker chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2, he is in charge of transporting the Metal Gear RAY prototype to its testing site and gives a speech to his troops in the cargo holds, unaware that the ship is being hijacked. He is killed by Revolver Ocelot before hijacking RAY, and his death serves as the root of Fortune's sorrow. Scott Dolph is voiced by Daisuke Gori in Japanese and Kevin Michael Richardson in English.

Raiden (雷電?), real name Jack (ジャック,Jakku?), is a child soldier in the Liberian Civil War, and Solidus Snake's adoptive son.[92] He is the main character of Metal Gear Solid 2 that substitutes Solid Snake as the player's character in the main portion of the game fighting against the titular terrorists to save the hostages from Big Shell.[93] Raiden reappears in Metal Gear Solid 4 as the new Cyborg Ninja who supports Solid Snake.[94] He returns as the protagonist of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.[95] Raiden is voiced by Kenyu Horiuchi in Japanese and Quinton Flynn in English.[12]

Introduced during the Plant chapter portion of Metal Gear Solid 2, she is employed by the army as a data analyst, and saves the player's progress over Codec.[96] Rosemary also supports Raiden by providing information about the Big Shell facilities and the other characters Raiden encounters in the game. Raiden and Rose spend most of their conversations talking about their relationship, something based on Kojima's real life.[85] By the end of the game, Rosemary reveals herself to be a spy for the Patriots.[97] She is then taken off the mission and replaced by an A.I. duplicate of her who openly mocks Raiden. After the final battle, Raiden is reunited with the real Rose, pregnant with his child, in front of Federal Hall.[98]

In Metal Gear Solid 4,[57] Rosemary appears as a psychological counselor in a combat stress platoon, offering Solid Snake tips on dealing with stress.[99] Though she became engaged to Raiden, their relationship ended after Rosemary supposedly had a miscarriage.[39] Rosemary later marries Roy Campbell. In reality, Rosemary did give birth to Raiden's child John and her marriage is a ploy to protect the boy from the Patriots by having Campbell pose as John's father. After she reveals the truth to Raiden, the couple reconciles.[40]

Vamp (ヴァンプ,Vanpu?) is a member of Dead Cell from Romania. He is a knife-throwing specialist endowed with numerous vampire-like abilities and attributes, such as a taste for blood, superhuman strength, speed, agility, the ability to walk on vertical walls and run across water (although this was based on a character that was scrapped).[3] His moniker has dual meanings, being a short form of the English word vampire as well as referring to his bisexual orientation.[100] Vamp was originally designed as a woman, but when the character of Fortune was introduced, the design was changed to that of a man, although the long black hair was retained,[101] with the finished model being based on dancer Joaquín Cortés.[85]

First appearing in Metal Gear Solid 2, he was part of the "Sons of Liberty" terrorist group during the Plant chapter. Vamp confronts Raiden several times throughout the course of the game being seemingly killed, but still manages to survive.[56]

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Vamp appears as a member of Liquid Ocelot's private army and as Raiden's rival.[39] His "immortality" is revealed to be caused by nanomachines in his body that heal all of his wounds at an extraordinarily fast rate (augmenting his natural healing abilities).[102] Using a syringe designed by Naomi Hunter to destabilize the functionality of nanomachines, Snake disables Vamp's nanomachines, while Raiden kills him at Shadow Moses Island.[103] Vamp was also added to the second expansion of Metal Gear Online as a playable character.[104]

Fortune (フォーチュン?), real name Helena Dolph Jackson (ヘレナ・ドルフ・ジャクソン?), is the leading member of Dead Cell and a member of the "Sons of Liberty". She is an African-American woman with blond hair, something requested by Shinkawa as he thought she would be appealing.[88] Her weapon is a railgun. Her codename comes from her nearly miraculous ability to have bullets pass by her without hitting her.[105] She is the first boss character in the Plant chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2. She confronts Raiden once in the game where she temporarily loses her will to fight when Vamp is seemingly killed by Raiden.[106] Her true motive is to seek revenge against Solid Snake whom she believes was responsible for her father's death.[107] Near the end of the game, she learns it was actually Revolver Ocelot who killed her father, but is shot in the chest before she can attack: Ocelot reveals that her immunity to bullets was simply the result of an electromagnetic force field surrounding her body.[108] Before dying, she manages to deflect Ocelot's attacks. Fortune is voiced by Yumi Tôma in Japanese and Maula Gale in English.

Peter Stillman (ピーター・スティルマン,Pītā Sutiruman?) is a former NYPD bomb disposal expert working for the Bund Patrol and the former mentor of Fatman. In Metal Gear Solid 2, he infiltrates the Big Shell facility with SEAL Team 10. After Fatman planted bombs within each of the struts in the entire Big Shell facility, Stillman provides Raiden and Iroquois Pliskin with the tools needed to track down and deactivate each of the explosives, while providing support to the player via the codec. He eventually learns that the explosives Fatman planted were decoys used to activate the real bombs set to destroy the foundation of Shell 1 and Shell 2. Stillman races to the basement of Strut H, only to be caught in Fatman's trap: the bomb being equipped with a proximity sensor, detonates, killing Stillman. Stillman was most likely named after a character in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. Peter Stillman is voiced by Shôzô Îzuka in Japanese and Greg Eagles in English.

Fatman (ファットマン,Fattoman?) is a member of Dead Cell that specializes in explosives. He is a psychopathic, overweight bald man in an EOD suit who moves around on rollerblades and is armed with a Glock 18 in addition to his bombs. Shinkawa had troubles designing him as he had been requested to make him obese and goodlooking at the same time.[88] In Metal Gear Solid 2, he is the second boss character in the Plant chapter. One of Raiden's early objectives in the Plant chapter is to deactivate a series of C4 bombs planted within each of the struts surrounding the Shell 1 core. The explosives are revealed to be nothing more than dummy bombs serving to activate the real bomb in the basement of Strut A. A similar bomb planted in the basement of the Shell 2 Core detonates, killing Fatman's former mentor Peter Stillman in the process. As Raiden meets with him, Fatman reveals that he wishes to become the world's most famous bomber by surpassing Stillman.[109] Fatman then challenges Raiden to a duel at the heliport atop Strut E, which results in his death. Revolver Ocelot later reveals that Fatman was actually an agent of The Patriots and that Stillman's presence in the facility was arranged to motivate Fatman into participating. Fatman is voiced by Kôzô Shioya in Japanese and Barry Dennen in English.

Colonel Richard Ames (リチャード・エイムズ,Richādo Eimuzu?) is a Secret Service agent and an operative for the Patriots. He previously served the Defense Intelligence Agency where he met Nastasha Romanenko. He was married to Nastasha for a while, but the two ended up divorcing. He was taken hostage during the Big Shell incident. In Metal Gear Solid 2, he met Raiden and then threatened by Revolver Ocelot (a fellow Patriot operative). He suddenly dies from an apparent heart attack. It is later revealed that he died from his nanomachines turning off his pacemaker thanks to a virus imitating FOXDIE put in place by the Patriots. Richard Ames is voiced by Masaharu Sato in Japanese and Peter Renaday in English.

Solidus Snake (ソリダス・スネーク,Soridasu Sunēku?) is a third clone of Big Boss.

First mentioned by name in the post-credits codec conversation of Metal Gear Solid, he was the President of the United States under the name George Sears (ジョージ・シアーズ?).[110] As a result he was designed based on Shinkawa's thoughts regarding how would Solid Snake look like older.[85] The main antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2, Solidus is the leader of the terrorist group "Sons of Liberty" attacking Big Shell initially under the name Solid Snake.[111][112] For combat, Solidus wears a powered suit.[88] After the Patriots removed his President status, Solidus turned against them and wishes to form his own nation to leave his impact on the world.[113] Revealed as the adoptive father of Raiden, having exploited him as a child soldier,[92] Solidus tries to kill Raiden to use his body to lead him to the Patriots.[114] However, Raiden defeats Solidus in their duel atop Federal Hall, slicing into the spine of Solidus' powered exoskeleton with a high frequency blade. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Solidus's corpse is passed off as Big Boss's body when Liquid Ocelot hacks into the Patriots' AI.[115]

James Johnson (ジェームズ・ジョンソン,Jēmuzu Jonson?) is the current President of the United States. By the time of Metal Gear Solid 2, he is the primary hostage Raiden is sent to rescue in the Plant chapter. After a series of ordeals, Raiden finally meets the President in the Shell 2 Core. The President reveals that he was actually a willing accomplice in the terrorist act, his vital signs being the input codes to activate Arsenal Gear (the new version of Metal Gear housed in the Big Shell), but was imprisoned after a conflict of interest with Solidus Snake as Johnson wanted power whereas his predecessor preferred rebelling altogether. After he reveals the truth about Arsenal Gear to Raiden, he learns that he was manipulated to revolt by the Patriots as part of the S3 Plan. He is then killed by Revolver Ocelot while arguing with Raiden to kill him to prevent the terrorists from launching a nuclear strike. James Johnson is voiced by Yuzuru Fujimoto in Japanese and Paul Lukather in English.

Emma Emmerich Danziger (エマ・エメリッヒ・ダンジガー,Ema Emerihhi Danjigā?), nicknamed "E.E.", is an AI programmer and the stepsister of Hal Emmerich. When Emma was a child, her mother Julie Danziger married Hal Emmerich's father. Emma and Hal became very close as children and often swam together. When Hal was an adolescent, he was seduced by Emma's mother. Upon learning this, his father (Huey Emmerich) committed suicide by drowning himself in the family's swimming pool and accidentally dragged Emma into the water in the process. She survived, but not without injury. Emma expected Hal to save her, but he was not aware that this was happening. After this, Emma developed a fear of water and became estranged from her stepbrother, blaming him for leaving the family after the father's death.[116]

During the Plant chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2, she is in charge of developing the AI that controls Arsenal Gear. She is escorted to the Shell 1 Core computer room by Raiden to download a virus into AI GW so that it will not be used by the terrorists, but is ambushed by Vamp on the oil fence. Raiden snipes Vamp, but before falling into the sea, Vamp fatally stabs Emma in the stomach.[117] She later dies in the computer room confessing how she wanted to be closer to her stepbrother.[118]

Major Zero (ゼロ?), also known as Major Tom,[119] is the founder of the FOX unit. Introduced in Metal Gear Solid 3, he serves as the commanding officer of the FOX unit that communicates with Naked Snake via radio. In Portable Ops, Zero is arrested by the Pentagon after being convicted for the FOX unit's revolt but is "exonerated" after the events of the game. He can also be recruited into Naked Snake's team.[120] In Peace Walker, Zero takes the codename "Cipher". In Metal Gear Solid 4, Zero is revealed to be the founder of the Patriots to control the United States.[121] However, a fallout between the two causes Zero to plot Big Boss's demise during both Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land then continuing controlling the world through artificial intelligences.[121][122] He appears in the game's ending as a 105-year-old vegetable in a wheelchair and dies after Big Boss cuts off his oxygen supply.[123]

Dr. Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov (ニコライ・ステパノヴィッチ・ソコロフ?) (Николай Степанович Соколов) is a rocket scientist. Despite being cowardly and timid, he was able to defect to the United States two years before the events of the game, but was sent back to the USSR as a secret addition to the negotiations for ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In Metal Gear Solid 3, Sokolov develops the Shagohod.[124] In the midsts of Naked Snake's retrieval of Sokolov, Colonel Volgin captures him and forces him to complete the weapon, and later seemingly dies of torture off-screen for trying to escape. Despite his apparent death, Sokolov returns in Portable Ops as the informant Ghost (ゴースト?). After he survived and escaped to the US with the help of FOX's new commander Gene, he builds the first Metal Gear model, a quadrupedal model, but still assists Snake as a result of the danger the RAXA can make.[125] He can also be recruited into Naked Snake's team.[120]

Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin (エヴゲニー・ボリソヴィッチ・ヴォルギン?) (Евгений Борисович Волгин), known as "Thunderbolt" in the West, is a StalinistGRUcolonel with a penchant for wanton brutality who attempts to seize control of the Soviet Union by overthrowing Nikita Khrushchev and installing Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin in his place. Furthermore, he was a mastermind behind the Katyn Forest Massacre.[126] His body carries an electric charge of ten million volts. He uses it chiefly for fighting and for torture.[127] After he battles Naked Snake and EVA, both in and atop the Shagohod, it begins to rain. He is at first unafraid but is rapidly struck by a bolt of lightning.[128] Volgin is voiced by Kenji Utsumi in Japanese and Neil Ross in English.

Para-Medic (パラメディック?) is a FOX support team member that provides medical information.[129] Although her codename is set before the modern use of the word "paramedic", her name instead comes from a portmanteau of "parachute" and "medic."[130]

In Metal Gear Solid 3, she provides Naked Snake with surgical information as well as general information on the local flora and fauna. In Portable Ops, Para-Medic can be recruited into Naked Snake's team.[120] In Metal Gear Solid 4, it is revealed that Para-Medic was one of the Patriots' founders as well as the head of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project that gave birth to Big Boss's sons.[131] In addition, she is actually Dr. Clark (クラーク博士,Kuraku Hakase?), the amoral doctor that revived Gray Fox and was in-turn murdered by the original Cyborg Ninja two years before the events of Metal Gear Solid,[132] which EVA and Ocelot wanted. Dr. Clark was referred to as a male by Naomi Hunter in the English version of Metal Gear Solid as a result of translation issues.[133]

The Pain (ザ・ペイン?) has the ability to control hornets at his will, through the buzzing of a queen hornet that he keeps in his backpack. Apart from his hornets, The Pain is also equipped with a Tommy gun and grenades, using his hornets in conjunction with these weapons. He also uses his hornets to shield himself and create the form of a body double to confuse and draw his opponents into the open.[134] In Metal Gear Solid 3, he fought and was defeated by Naked Snake. The Pain is voiced by Hisao Egawa in Japanese and Gregg Berger in English.

The Fear (ザ・フィアー?) is a member of the Cobra unit known for his superhuman speed and agility, as well as his freakish, fearsome appearance. Capable of dislocating his joints at will, he is able to crawl, walk on water, flip, leap extremely quickly in the manner of a spider, and also climb and jump around in trees with ease. He mainly uses a crossbow in battle, coating his bolts in the venom of the Brazilian wandering spider,[135] setting them on fire or even outfitting them with explosives. He uses a variety of wires and ropes to enhance his mobility. On top of his incredible agility, he also uses Stealth camouflage to make himself nearly invisible.[136] At the beginning of the battle in Metal Gear Solid 3, he shoots Naked Snake in the leg with a poisoned crossbow bolt, but wants to kill Snake himself rather than let the venom do the job for him. The poison begins to make Snake hallucinate, giving The Fear a distinct advantage, though Snake still manages to defeat him. The Fear is voiced by Kazumi Tanaka in Japanese and Michael Bell in English.

The End (ジ・エンド?) is a member of the Cobra unit with exceptional sniping skills, born in the early 1860s, and the only member of the unit without an emotion-based codename, though it is explained in the game that it signifies "true oblivion".[137] The End is a venerable expert sniper, but is visibly vulnerable as a result of his age.[138] He has a pet parrot (an Alexandrine parakeet) who can alert him to Snake's presence. The End is the only member of the Cobras who will not kill the player under any circumstances. The strategic sniper fight between Naked Snake and The End in Metal Gear Solid was developed by Kojima who wanted to bring a completely new style of boss battle to the series. However, the fight can be avoided if Snake kills a defenseless The End shortly before,[139] or if the player saves during the fight and waits a week (or sets the system clock a week ahead), in which case The End dies of old age. In Peace Walker, The End's voice can sometimes be heard over the Codec during ghost missions, and Snake comments numerous times during mission briefings asking Kaz Miller if he saw any parrots with the enemy snipers and scouts. The End is voiced by Osamu Saka in Japanese and J. Grant Albrecht in English.

The Sorrow (ザ・ソロー?) was a powerful spirit medium and a former member of the Cobra unit, who used his psychic powers to aid his fellow soldiers on the battlefield.[141] After being romantically involved with The Boss, he was the father of her child.[142] After the ideological rift created by the Cold War, loyalties changed with him and The Boss each taking their respective sides. The Boss kills him in 1962 for making a double agent out of a sleeper agent she sent to OKB-1 to gather data on the USSR's space program.[143] He makes many hidden appearances in ghost form throughout the game's cut scenes.[144] In Metal Gear Solid 3, after escaping from Groznyj Grad and suffering a near-death experience, Naked Snake encounters The Sorrow while being forced to wade through an endless river swarming with all of the enemies that Snake has killed up to that point.[145] In Metal Gear Solid 4, The Sorrow appears as one of the dolls controlled by Screaming Mantis. After she is defeated, her doppelganger appears to offend Solid Snake, but is sent back to the underworld.[146] The Sorrow is voiced by Yukitoshi Hori in Japanese and David Thomas in English.

Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov (イワン・ライデノヴィッチ・ライコフ?) (Иван Райденович Райков) is a high-ranking officer within Groznyj Grad. He is implied to be Colonel Volgin's secret lover, and consequently has colonel-class authority despite his rank. The character is a parody of Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2. The player is also able to wear a mask to impersonate him as Kojima noted that there were fans who wanted to play as Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 3.[147] Besides impersonating Raikov, Naked Snake also has to knock him out to take his uniform and go to Groznyj Grad with the player also being given the choice of killing him. According to Kojima, the reason why he left Raikov's fate up to the player was largely because of Raiden's controversial popularity, where he'd allow the player, depending on whether their views of Raiden were positive or negative, to spare or kill Raikov, respectively.[148] Raikov appears as a secret character in Portable Ops as being exiled to Colombia by the Soviet military after the fallout of Operation Snake Eater runs him afoul of the Kremlin.[120] Raikov is voiced by Ken'yû Horiuchi in Japanese and Charlie Schlatter in English.

Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin (アレクサンドル・レオノヴィッチ・グラーニン?) (Александр Леонович Гранин) is the director of OKB-812 (also known as the Granin Design Bureau). He is the man who originally came up with the concept of bipedal walking tanks (the blueprints for Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear D). He supplies Naked Snake with the key to the door near the warehouse, but dies under Volgin's torture. Before he was caught, Granin sent his files on Metal Gear to a friend in the United States, Huey. Granin is voiced by Takeshi Aono in Japanese and Jim Ward in English.

One of FOX's original members, Python is revealed to have worked alongside Snake during the early stages of the US advisory effort in Vietnam. However, he was severely injured during a mission with the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that he lost the ability to regulate his body temperature. The US government operated on him to stabilize his body temperature, eventually putting him in a Sneaking Suit filled with liquid nitrogen and several needles on his head to vent the excess heat. The CIA uses him as a counterpart to Snake in case he rebelled. Python joins the player's pool if his defeated by nonlethal means, but will burn to death if he is killed.

Elisa and Ursula are split personalities of a teenage girl raised in East Germany to nuclear physicists who worked in the USSR. She is revealed to be a survivor of the 1957 Kyshtym disaster; the radioactive fallout triggered her psychic abilities. The girl went back to East Germany and underwent numerous ESP and psychic tests. The testing enabled the girl to create split personalities that people can mistake them as twins. Gene rescued her during a mission in 1966 and later trained her personas - Elisa in medicine and Ursula in combat abilities. Over the course of the game, Elisa helps Snake and Campbell with their needs. However, the Ursula personality kicks in during Snake's showdown with Metal Gear RAXA. When the combined personalities attempt to stop Gene, he kills her. Her last words to Snake cryptically point to important developments in later games.

FOX's resident interrogation specialist, Lt. Cunningham is an African-American soldier going by the codename Boa. After losing his leg due to unspecified reasons and getting demoted to desk work by the CIA, the Department of Defense taps him to besmirch the Agency's reputation in the wake of the events of Snake Eater, a job he accepted due to desiring revenge for his demotion. This enables him to join Gene's revolt and later to interrogate Snake about the Philosophers' Legacy. Snake defeats him upon learning of the DOD's plans, with his flying platform exploding shortly thereafter, although not before he attempts to destroy the base with a Davy Crockett round in an attempt to ensure Snake died with him.

The commander of FOX by the late 1960s, Gene joined the unit under the codename Viper after Snake left. He proves his worth by rescuing Sokolov and Elisa during missions to Eastern Europe. A doctor by trade with a moderate degree of political science knowledge, he gradually undermines Major Zero's authority and prepares his rebellion. Gene participates in the Successor Project, a special program designed to create a military officer modeled after The Boss and highly educated in military strategy and tactics. The program results in Gene developing enhanced CQC abilities and powers of persuasion/mild telepathic powers. Snake kills him after he reveals his plans behind the takeover of the San Hieronymo base. Recognizing Snake's combat skills, Gene bequeaths to him all the resources he had amassed for a military force called Army's Heaven.

The commander of the Red Army base in San Hieronymo, Skowronski is a World War II veteran and former fighter pilot. The player finds him hiding aboard a ship in the harbor that housed his fighter plane collection. It is revealed that the colonel had been drinking after Gene's men took over the base and even turned the Red Army troops against him. Skowronski dies in an attempt to kill Gene using RAXA. When it shuts down, Ursula telekinetically picks him off the cockpit and drops him to his death.

One of the Red Army soldiers stationed at the San Hieronymo base, Jonathan is the first of the enemy soldiers to be recruited by the player. After meeting Naked Snake and Campbell, Jonathan says the Red Army personnel were assigned to build the base as an alternate strategic missile site after the Cuban Missile Crisis; detente and the USSR's commitment to the SALT negotiations resulted in the abandonment of the base, triggering the soldiers' decision to join Gene. Jonathan is left impressed with Snake's idealism and also helps in treating Campbell's bout with malaria. As Gene manipulates the Soviet soldiers into killing each other later in the game, Jonathan takes a few rounds meant for Naked Snake and dies in his arms.

Olga Gurlukovich's daughter, Sunny Emmerich (サニー・エメリッヒ?) is kidnapped by the Patriots sometime after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2‍ '​s Tanker chapter and was used to manipulate her mother during the Plant Chapter.[149] Afterwards, Raiden rescued her from the Patriots, leaving her in Otacon's care.[150]

By the time of Metal Gear Solid 4, she is a gifted computer programmer where it is heavily implied that her status as prodigy is the result of genetic engineering experiments done to her while she was in possession of the Patriots. She along with Naomi Hunter designs the FOXALIVE virus which Old Snake uses to disable the Patriots' AIs. Sunny returns in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, having been adopted by Otacon, as a member from the company "Solis". She did attend school after becoming free of the Patriot AI's, but was considered too "advanced"; after earning multiple degrees, she was hired by Solis.[151] Sunny is voiced by Kikuko Inoue in Japanese and Cristina Pucelli in English.[9]

Drebin (ドレビン?) is a weapons launderer that's usually accompanied by his pet monkey Little Gray. In Metal Gear Solid 4, he assists Old Snake by disabling ID-tagged weapons taken from PMC troops. He also provides exposition on the origins of each of the Beauty and the Beast members.[152] Drebin is actually a Patriot spy assigned to help Snake defeat Liquid Ocelot.[153] He injects Snake with a syringe that secretly contains a new strain of FOXDIE programmed to kill EVA, Ocelot and Big Boss; in addition to the nanomachines allowing Snake to use Drebin's weapons. Drebin is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in Japanese and Khary Payton in English.

Laughing Octopus (ラフィング・オクトパス,Rafingu Okutopasu?) was born and raised in a small Scandinavian hamlet known as the Devil's Village, where the residents habitually eat octopus. A nearby cult took offense to the village's diet and attacked, sparing few, including the young girl. On pain of death, they tortured her into killing her entire family while laughing. This has utterly numbed her to bloodshed and has spawned an obsession with laughter, particularly during battle.

Raging Raven (レイジング・レイヴン,Reijingu Reivun?) is the only member of the Corps with true flying capabilities that utilizes UCAVs and a grenade launcher to attack her enemies. Born in Aceh, Indonesia, she was taken as a prisoner of war as a child. After enduring months of torture and starvation, her captors abruptly abandoned the prison, leaving her and the other child prisoners to be eaten alive by ravens. She was the last living child; though instead of eating her, the ravens peck away her bonds. She finds her captors' base camp and kills all soldiers and civilians present.

Crying Wolf (ウルフクライング?) is the Corps' strongest member as she can attack with a railgun or sheer brute force. She is also endowed with a strong sense of smell, enough to identify. She was born in an unnamed country ripped by civil war. After her family was killed in an attack, she fled the village with her baby brother and became a refugee. When hiding from an enemy unit in a shack, her brother began to cry; she covered his mouth to silence him and accidentally killed him. Upon reaching a refugee camp, she was driven insane by her grief and by the cries of children. She experienced visions of a wolf killing the children of the camp; in reality, it was she who did so. In Metal Gear Solid 4, she does not accept that she killed the children until her fight with Old Snake. After their fight, she is taken away by one of Sniper Wolf's wolves, with Otacon implying the wolf carrying her was Sniper Wolf's spirit.

Screaming Mantis (スクリーミング・マンティス?) is the Corps' leader. Able to float by using unknown abilities, she has the power to crush people at will and manipulate soldiers to do her bidding, including killing their former allies. She has two puppets shaped like previous Metal Gear Solid bosses Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow. It is revealed that the Psycho Mantis puppet is used to control and manipulate living people while The Sorrow puppet can be used to manipulate dead bodies. However, her powers are only applicable on people implanted with nanomachines and cannot affect people who can suppress nanomachine activity. After her fight with solid Snake, it is revealed that Psycho Mantis was controlling her mind as a result of her insanity.

Amanda Valenciano Libre (アマンダ・バレンシアノ・リブレ?) assumes command of the FSLN after her father (their leader) is killed. After many of her members were forced out of Nicaragua by government forces months before the events of the game, the KGB comes to the Sandinistas' aid by having them operate a banana plantation that is actually a front for drug-trafficking operations to generate funds for their rebel activities. Amanda also shows a romantic interest in Snake (Big Boss) when he frees the Sandinista survivors from the Peace Sentinels. Towards the end of the game, Amanda leads the Sandinistas into fighting the KGB. In the game, the player can use Amanda to motivate former guerrillas recruited into the MSF. She does not appear in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, having left Mother Base to work on MSF's Cuban operations.

Ricardo Valenciano Libre (リカルド・バレンシアノ・リブレ?),[154] nicknamed Chico (チコ?), is Amanda's younger brother. He tries to prove himself to his sister and the FSLN rebels despite his age. An argument before the game begins results in Chico wandering around the forest and his capture by the Peace Sentinels. He also talks to Snake about sightings of the Peace Walker AI weapon (which he calls "El Basilisco"). Chico has an interest in cryptozoology, is the one who briefs Snake (Big Boss) on Monster Hunter missions and is in love with Paz. In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Chico is imprisoned and tortured in the military camp Camp Omega after trying to rescue Paz. It is also implied by tapes that he was forced to have sex with Paz. He is aboard Snake's helicopter when it crashes into the Caribbean Sea, leaving Chico's fate unresolved.

Dr. Emmerich (エメリッヒ博士?), nicknamed Huey (ヒューイ?) by his coworker Dr. Strangelove, is the father of Hal Emmerich and a wheelchair-bound scientist who was born paraplegic due to having an abnormal spine. In addition to being the son of a Manhattan Project scientist, he was born on the same day as the Hiroshima attack.[155] In Peace Walker, he and Strangelove are responsible for building the Peace Sentinels' AI weapons and later MSF's own Metal Gear ZEKE. In a personal letter he wrote to Strangelove, which he asks Snake (Big Boss) to give to her, it is revealed that they have worked together while in NASA and Huey was expressing much interest in her.[156] Huey remains with MSF during the events of Ground Zeroes, continuing work on Metal Gear ZEKE and working to hide both it and its nuclear capabilities from the United Nations. He is present at Mother Base when it is attacked by the XOF forces, though the ending timeline of Ground Zeroes and the E3 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain confirmed that he managed to escape the chaos, eventually developing a bipedal system to gain the ability to walk again. In addition, Hal reveals in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty that Huey committed suicide in the 1990s after finding out that Hal was having an affair with his stepmother.

Hot Coldman (ホット・コールドマン?) is depicted as a former director of the CIA sent to manage the Agency's Latin America operations. In Peace Walker, he is one of the main antagonists. Because of bitterness over the demotion, Coldman plans to use the Peace Sentinels and the Peace Walker Project to regain his status as a power player in Washington. The true reason behind his exile was because he planned Operation Snake Eater.[157] Late in the game, Coldman dies of Zadornov's gunshots, after inputting Peace Walker's nuclear launch codes and leaking the false data to NORAD. Hot Coldman is voiced by Mugihito in Japanese and H. Richard Greene in English.

Ramon Galvez Mena (ラモン・ガルベス・メナ?) is a professor at the University of Peace. He possesses a red bionic right hand with built-in lighter and also can be launched like a rocket. In Peace Walker, he and his student Paz Ortega Andrade visit the MSF's base in Colombia to recruit Snake's services. Galvez helps out the MSF as they slowly uncover the Peace Sentinels' true motives in Costa Rica. He later unmasked himself as KGB intelligence operative Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zadornov when Coldman prepares the Peace Walker to attack from inside a US base in Nicaragua. After the MSF and FSLN captures him and locks him up at the Mother Base, he breaks out on several occasions which forces Snake to recapture him. He is eventually killed by Big Boss in self-defense. Ramon Galvez Mena/Vladimir Zadornov is voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka in Japanese and Steven Blum in English.

Strangelove (ストレンジラブ?) is a British AI expert hired to work in the Peace Walker project. During her stint with NASA in the late 1950s, Strangelove met The Boss. She later met Huey while working in the Mercury program. Her experience with The Boss and subsequent work in ARPA inspires her to create Peace Walker's AI matrix with The Boss' personality years later during Peace Walker. At the end of the game, she joins the MSF in helping create Metal Gear Zeke's AI matrix. Strangelove is voiced by Yumi Kikuchi in Japanese and Vanessa Marshall in English. Strangelove was not present in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, having left Mother Base a week before the IAEA inspection notification arrived due to the AI department not coming up with anything as well as ZEKE being completed.

Cécile Cosima Caminades (セシール・コジマ・カミナンデス,Seshīru Kojima Kaminandesu?) is a French ornithologist caught while trying to record quetzal sounds near an Incan ruin where the Peace Walker Project's AI laboratory is located. Cécile also was influenced by the May 1968 events in France, similar to other Parisian women at the time.[158] The way her name is pronounced is a play on the phrase Kojima, kami nan desu(小島、神なんです?, "Kojima, he's definitely a god").[159] She is also named after and visually based on Cécile Caminades, an employee from the Paris branch of Konami Digital Entertainment.[160] Cécile did not appear in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, as she had been evacuated from Mother Base and returned to Paris, France in preparation for the then-upcoming IAEA inspection. Cécile Cosima Caminades is voiced by Yū Kobayashi in Japanese and Catherine Taber in English.

Paz Ortega Andrade (パス・オルテガ・アンドラーデ?) is a student at the University of Peace. In Peace Walker, she is depicted in the game as an innocent schoolgirl. But in the game's true ending, Paz is revealed to be an agent of Cipher (Zero) and hijacks Metal Gear ZEKE and tries to launch its nuclear warhead at the US East Coast with the intention of framing the Militaires Sans Frontieres as being an extremist cult under Cipher's orders. Big Boss defeats her and she is thrown into the water from the force of ZEKE's explosion, although Big Boss suspected that there was a possibility that she survived.[161] Paz provides commentary about her deep-cover mission in a ten-part series of audio tapes called "Paz's Diary." In the tapes, Paz talks about life in Mother Base and her fears about a strong reprisal from Cipher if she blew her cover. The last tape is made just before she activates Zeke.

In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Paz is found alive drifting in the Caribbean before being captured by XOF and brought to Camp Omega. During her interrogation by Skull Face, she undergoes extreme torture, multiple rapes, neglect, and the surgical implanting of explosive devices in her abdomen and womb. After learning of her survival, Big Boss is sent to retrieve her and Chico from the camp, believing her to be instrumental in finding and stopping Cipher. Upon rescuing the two, however, he and Chico discover the surgical scars from one of the bombs inside the unconscious Paz, and are forced to remove it. While attempting to escape XOF's assault on Mother Base, Paz awakens and reveals the presence of the second bomb before throwing herself from the helicopter in an attempt to save the others from the subsequent explosion, which kills her.

Despite her death, Paz mysteriously appears in the E3 2015 trailer of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, either a hallucination of Big Boss or a clone.

Boris Vyacheslavovich Popov (ボリス・ヴャチェスラヴォヴィチ・ポポフ?) (Борис Вячеславович Попов) is the president of Maverick and a former Russian Army soldier. Boris is voiced by J.B. Blanc in English and Takayuki Sugo in Japanese.

Kevin Washington (ケビン・ワシントン,Kebin Washington?) is a military strategist who briefs Raiden on his missions and provides additional combat intelligence. Kevin is voiced by Phil LaMarr in English and Yuichi Nakamura in Japanese.

Wilhelm Voigt (ヴィルヘルム・フォイクト,Viruherumu Fōkuto?), known as "Doktor" (ドクトル,"Dokutoru"?) is a German cybernetics expert who helps construct Raiden's new cyborg body. Doktor is voiced by Jim Ward in English and Mugihito in Japanese.

Samuel Rodrigues (サムエル・ホドリゲス,Samueru Hodorigesu?) is a master of a Brazilian fighting technique called the "New Shadow School", which had some derivations from a similar Japanese fighting style. Known by the callsigns "Jetstream" and "Minuano,"[163] Rodrigues throws his lot with Desperado for most of the game. Raiden's rivalry with Sam is a major driving force of the plot. An additional chapter released as downloadable content details the backstory of how Sam joined Desperado. Sam is voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez in English and Hiroaki Hirata in Japanese.

Sundowner (サンダウナー,Sandaunā?) is Desperado's unofficial leader and part of the Winds of Destruction, a team of elite operatives. His name is derived from a wind condition that occurs in Southern California. He wears a series of explosive shields, and his main weapons are two high-frequency machetes that combine into a pincer known as "Bloodlust". Sundowner is voiced by Crispin Freeman in English and Ken Nishida in Japanese.

Mistral (ミストラル,Misutoraru?) is the second member of the Winds of Destruction trio, named after the dry northern winds that blow from the Alps to the Mediterranean. Her cybernetic body is capable of hosting multiple limbs taken off Dwarf Gekkos. Her main weapon is a long staff that also acts as a whip known as "L'Etranger". She is methodically killed by Raiden after being doused in liquid nitrogen. Mistral is voiced by Salli Saffioti in English and Romi Park in Japanese.

Monsoon (モンスーン,Monsūn?) is the third member of the Winds of Destruction, named after the seasonal wind systems that occur in West Africa and Australasia. His most prominent ability is to magnetically dislocate his entire body to attack from a distance. He can also use smoke grenades for sudden attacks, and carries a pair of dual said known as "Dystopia". His personality is that of a nihilistic, misanthropicsociopath, which is strongly implied to be the result of his being a survivor and victim of the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror.[164][165] Monsoon is voiced by John Kassir in English and Masashi Ebara in Japanese.

Bladewolf (ブレードウルフ,Burēdo Urufu?), also known as the IF Prototype LQ-84i, is an unmanned AI weapon in Desperado's arsenal. When Raiden defeats the machine, Maverick rebuilds it as an ally. An additional chapter released as downloadable content details part of Bladewolf's history with Desperado prior to his first encounter with Raiden. Bladewolf is voiced by Michael Beattie in English and Yoshimasa Hosoya in Japanese.

Only appearing in the Bladewolf DLC package, Khamsin (カムシン?) is an unofficial fourth member of the Winds of Destruction, named after a hot, dry, dusty south-north wind in North Africa and the Middle East. He was discharged from the Marines due to friction between him and his teammates, and is held in similarly low regard by Desperado. Khamsin is voiced by Benito Martinez in English and Rikiya Koyama in Japanese.

Steven Armstrong (スティーヴン・アームストロング,Sutīvun Amusutorongu?) is a Colorado senator and the primary backer of both Desperado Enforcement LLC and World Marshal Inc. He seeks to be elected as president of the United States in order to rebuild the country from within, purging those too weak or impoverished to contribute to society and replace it with cyborgs. Armstrong is voiced by Alastair Duncan in English and Unsho Ishizuka in Japanese.

Skull Face(スカルフェイス?) is the commander of a mysterious Special Forces unit known as XOF who first appears in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. He is distinguished by his heavily scarred face, hairless head, and his choice of tailored suits over combat fatigues. His identity and nationality are unknown, and he claims to have forgotten his native language, though he is heard to speak Hungarian in a cassette recording. His injuries were sustained when a rapeseed oil factory his parents worked in was bombed on suspicion of manufacturing weapons, an incident he describes as an atrocity before admitting the suspicions were correct; he characterizes the incident as a case of the ends justifying the means. He considers the fire to have burned the humanity out of him, and tortures his captives to the brink of death in order to see when their hope is extinguished, believing that he can discover the source of his own hope and regain his humanity.

Skull Face is a senior operative working on behalf of Cipher; he expresses dissatisfaction with Major Zero's leadership, and seeks information that will lead him to Zero. As the commander of XOF, he authorizes and participates in the torture and imprisonment of Paz and Chico, and later leads an assault against Militaires Sans Frontières' Mother Base, which results in its partial destruction.

Quiet(クワイエット?) is a mute sniper who first appears in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. She ends up with the Diamond Dogs and has the ability to move at supernatural speeds by dematerializing her body into particles.

High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND (ハイテク特殊部隊フォックスハウンド,Haiteku Tokushu Butai Fokkusuhaundo?), also spelled FOX-HOUND, is a US Army elite special forces unit that has appeared in numerous forms throughout the Metal Gear series.[24] FOXHOUND was formed in 1971 according to Metal Gear Solid 3 (later depicted in Portable Ops) to cope with local revolutions, regional complications, and global terrorist activities. This unit specializes in black ops, carrying out top-secret operations within "unauthorized" combat zones which are too politically sensitive to intervene in through conventional means.

In the original Metal Gear, FOXHOUND has Big Boss as the team's commanding officer while Solid Snake and Gray Fox serve as field operatives. However, Big Boss betrays the unit in the end of the game. In Metal Gear 2, Roy Campbell went from the unit's executive officer to the new commanding officer while drill instructor Master Miller and military strategist George Kasler form part of Snake's support crew in the game.

In Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake and Campbell are already retired from FOXHOUND and the unit turns rogue under the leadership of Liquid Snake, with five other members involved in the terrorist activity. Although the unit is disbanded by the time of Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden is led to believe that he is serving a new form of FOXHOUND under the command of "The Colonel" (an A.I. representation of Campbell controlled by The Patriots).

The FOX (Force Operation X) unit led by Zero is introduced in Metal Gear Solid 3 as the special forces unit (as a precursor to FOXHOUND) with Naked Snake as its first agent. The FOX unit turns renegade in Portable Ops under the leadership of Gene, leading to Big Boss (Naked Snake) and his new partner Roy Campbell to form their own team of specialists, which forms the foundation of FOXHOUND.

Outside the Metal Gear series, FOXHOUND is mentioned in Snatcher as a military unit that JUNKER Chief Benson Cunningham previously served; and in Policenauts as Meryl's former unit (the character being the basis for the Meryl in Metal Gear Solid, has a paint tattoo of the team's original logo). Outside of video games, the team has inspired a New York rock-jazz fusion band to take FOXHOUND as their name, as well as inspiring replica clothing company AbbyShot Clothiers to create the "Foxhound Coat", a replica of Liquid Snake's trench coat from Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.[166]

Outer Heaven is a nation-state that first appears in the original Metal Gear game. It is located 200 kilometers north of the fictional city of Garzburg, South Africa. A legendary mercenary financed the nation's establishment to attract disillusioned soldiers, with a massive fortress as its centerpiece. Its potential threat to world affairs is boosted with the deployment of the TX-55 Metal Gear, a bipedal tank capable of launching a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planet. In the game, FOXHOUND commander Big Boss ordered rookie agent Solid Snake to infiltrate the mercenary state and destroy Metal Gear. After Solid Snake successfully defies expectations and destroys Metal Gear, Big Boss reveals himself as the nation's benefactor and confronted Solid Snake but he is ultimately defeated with Outer Heaven destroyed as well.

In Metal Gear Solid, Liquid Snake's FOXHOUND took over Shadow Moses Island and threatens the rest of the world with Metal Gear REX in the hopes of making Shadow Moses into a new "Outer Heaven" but was foiled by Solid Snake. In Metal Gear Solid 2, Solidus Snake uses the term "Outer Heaven" as a codename for a plan to destroy the Patriots by detonating a nuclear warhead, triggering an electromagnetic pulse to permanently destroy the Patriots' AI systems.

Outer Heaven's origins are further given light in the prequels. In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, it is revealed that Big Boss (Naked Snake) devised Outer Heaven in response to Gene's proposed "Army's Heaven" concept that would in fact victimize soldiers in the pursuit of Gene's goals. Naked Snake's defeat of Gene results in Gene giving the data on Army's Heaven resources and personnel. In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Big Boss forms the "Militaires Sans Frontieres" (Soldiers Without Borders) mercenary group. Per The Boss's will, Big Boss conceptualized the MSF as capable of providing combat support to any individual or country, regardless of other factors. Kaz Miller helps develop the MSF into a private military contractor offering a wide range of services. The group's logo is a skull stylized after Pangaea inside a yellow and black circle.

The group is initially revealed as an inner circle of 12 people known as The Wisemen's Committee (賢人会議,Kenjin Kaigi?). After Solid Snake becomes a public hero in the aftermath of Metal Gear Solid, the Patriots during Metal Gear Solid 2 begin a smear campaign against Solid Snake and frame Philanthropy for an oil tanker's destruction in New York. They initiate Arsenal Gear's construction and its AI GW in order to censor the flow of digital information, and manipulate the events of the story through their trusted agent Revolver Ocelot. At the game's end, Philanthropy acquires a disk containing the Wisemen's Committee identities and learns that all 12 members have been dead for "about a hundred years".

In Metal Gear Solid 3, it is revealed that the Wisemen's Committee are actually the founding members of the preceding organization The Philosophers (賢者達,Kenjatachi?) which was formed at the end of World War I when the leaders of the United States, China and Bolshevik Russia entered a secret pact with a stated purpose of pooling money to rebuild countries affected by the war. After the original members died during the 1930s, their followers began fighting amongst themselves to inherit the "Philosophers' Legacy", a fund left by the original members. In the ending timeline, it is mentioned that the Patriots was formed by the Philosophers' American branch after accumulating the missing fund.

In the ending of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Ocelot is ordered by a mysterious man to end the American Philosophers. Ocelot kills the DCI and obtains his former employer's documents containing the Philosophers' identities and the location of the organization's funds. The mysterious man invites Ocelot to form part of his new organization of the Patriots. In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the Patriots take the codename "Cipher" and send their agent Pacifica Ocean to oppose Big Boss as well as frame MSF for a nuclear strike against the East Coast. In the ending, Kazuhira Miller was also revealed to have been affiliated with Cipher as a neutral business partner, although it was also implied Miller quit upon learning about Cipher's plan to frame MSF.

In Metal Gear Solid 4, it is revealed that Zero formed the Patriots with Big Boss, Sigint, Para-Medic, Ocelot and EVA as founding members. Although the organization was originally formed to fulfill The Boss's ideal of a unified world, Zero eventually grew too powerful and greedy to control everything which caused a fallout between Zero and Big Boss. This occurred due to each of them interpreting The Boss's will differently, with Zero taking the concept to mean control of the entire world to ensure unification, whereas Big Boss believed that her will wanted a world where soldiers were not used as tools by the government. These differences led to the Patriots being split into two factions: Ocelot and EVA on Big Boss's side against Sigint and Para-Medic working for Zero's. After EVA and Ocelot killed both Para-Medic for her morally corrupt experiments on Gray Fox and Sigint for abusing his position by accepting bribes as the DARPA chief, Zero's paranoia creates four computer AIs: TJ, TR, AL and GW controlled by fifth proxy AI JD. Originally, Zero creates the AIs to carry out his own will due to his increasing age and his skepticism that human subordinates would be able to do so. But over time, the system evolved from simply maintaining economic and political systems into creating an entirely new world order based on war economies, something not even Zero himself envisioned. Fortunately, the Patriots' network is shut down when Naomi Hunter's and Sunny's FOXALIVE computer worm used GW as a conduit to access the others. After the death of Zero during the game's surprise epilogue, the Patriots' demise is ensured and Big Boss realized that The Boss's dream was meant as words of wisdom as opposed to Zero's or Big Boss's original interpretations.

Philanthropy is a U.N. recognized anti-Metal Gear organization founded by Nastasha Romanenko following the events of the original Metal Gear Solid. Its members consists of Solid Snake (the protagonist of the previous Metal Gear games), a former FOXHOUND operative, and Metal Gear REX designer Hal "Otacon" Emmerich as well as Mei Ling who makes a cameo appearance via codec if the player saves the game 13 times during the Tanker chapter. A large amount of the startup funds for the organization were provided by Nastasha Romanenko.

Philanthropy is an NGO (non-government organization), which means that while the U.N. recognizes its existence, it has no official government backing. As Philanthropy is a semi-clandestine organization, Otacon must sometimes obtain equipment and information through less-than-legal methods (Snake mentions that on more than one occasion, Otacon has hacked classified networks to 'appropriate' experimental technology). In addition, it was also involved in activities comparable to Terrorism.[167]

XOF is a mysterious Special Forces group appearing in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and the upcoming release Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. As of Ground Zeroes, little has been revealed about their nature. Under the leadership of Skull Face, they carry out a successful assault on Militaires Sans Frontières' Mother Base, which results in MSF's destruction. Their insignia is a mirror of the FOX unit; where FOX's insignia is a stylised yellow fox on a black background, XOF's is a black fox on a yellow background. XOF is shown to remove all of their identifying markings from both personnel and equipment before carrying out operations, implying that they carry out extremely sensitive black operations.

Diamond Dogs (ダイアモンド・ドッグズ?) is a group that will appear in the upcoming game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Diamond Dogs is a splinter organisation (formed from the surviving remnants of MSF) under the command of Big Boss, as he goes against the mysterious paramilitary XOF organization that attacked Mother Base.[168] The Dogs' logo is a likeness of a dog with a cut diamond in the background.

The characters from the Metal Gear series have been well received by gamers with Solid Snake and Raiden appearing in a Famitsu poll that listed the fifty best video game characters; while the former was at the top, the latter was 42nd.[169] Solid Snake has also appeared in multiple lists of best characters in gaming history,[170][171] while Raiden and Revolver Ocelot were found as characters who should have their own spin-off games.[172][173] While the variety of characters have been noted, publications often found some out of place as a result of their abilities and confusing changes occurying within them.[174][175] The character's have also been praised for their actions within fight scenes, resulting in appealing cutscenes.[175][176]David Hayter's performance as Snake's English voice actor has received praise to the point of being called one of the best ones in gaming.[177][178]

The bosses have been praised not only for the requirements for defeating them, but also for the importance they have within the story. Various feature articles by video game publication have made articles regarding who is the boss character within the series, but results have varied.[179][180] During 2004, The Boss was awarded "Best New Character" by GameSpot for her role in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.[181] In 2013, GamesRadar praised the character roles of Steven Armstrong, The Boss, Psycho Mantis and Revolver/Liquid Ocelot, placing them in their list of 100 best villains in video games.[182]

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake". Konami. Big Boss: Even I make mistakes from time to time. Snake! This will be our final battle... Let's end this once and for all!

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid". Konami. Liquid: There's a killer inside you... You don't have to deny it. We were created to be that way. / Snake: Created? / Liquid: Les enfants terribles... the terrible children. That's what the project was called. It started in the 1970s. Their plan was to artificially create the most powerful soldier possible. The person that they chose as the model was the man known then as the greatest living soldier in the world...

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Naomi Hunter: You are clones created for one purpose - war. And so in order to prevent you from being abused by clients or stolen by the enemy... They shortened your lifespan and removed your ability to reproduce. It was a safety device to ensure that the seed of Big Boss didn't end up in the hands of others. The reason you're aging so rapidly isn't because of disease, or faulty research, or FOXDIE. It's how you were born. It’s your natural lifespan.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. Zero: Do you copy? You're already in enemy territory, and somebody might be listening in. From here on out, we'll be using codenames to refer to each other. Your codename for this mission will be Naked Snake. I'll be referring to you as Snake from now on. You are not to mention your real name.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. President: You are above even The Boss. I hereby award you the title of Big Boss.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear". Konami. Gray Fox: There is only one way to destroy Metal Gear. Dr. Pettrovich, who developed it knows the only method.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear". Konami. Dr. Madnar: I'm afraid you've got me, Snake. I gave up everything to be a part of your world... Even the country I was born and raised in... But your world had nothing but contempt and abuse for me. I just wanted... to finish Metal Gear!

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Raiden: Eastern Europe. They have equipment that can heal me there. / Old Snake: Where? The same place Liquid went? / Raiden: Dr. Madnar. He saved my life.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear". Konami. Schneider: This is the resistance leader, Mr. Scheneider... I will brief you on the fortress details.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear". Konami. Black Ninja: He came... and saved us from annihilation. He forgave us for what we'd done. He gave us a new land to call home... A new family... / Snake: He did...? You mean...

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear". Konami. Roy Campbell: The radar is equipped with several other types of sensors as well. They should warn you of any unseen dangers.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid". Konami. Roy Campbell: Okay Snake. Sorry. I'll be frank. A person very dear to me is being held hostage. / Solid Snake: Who is it? / Roy Campbell: My niece. Meryl. / Solid Snake: What was your niece doing here? / Roy Campbell: Several soldiers were reported missing the day of the revolt. And my niece was one of those called in as an emergency replacement.

^Konami. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Otacon: The Colonel probably isn't GW, per se. GW was most likely stimulating cortical activity in the dormant part of your brain through signal manipulation of your own nanomachines. The Colonel is in part your own creation, cobbled together from expectations and experience...

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. Solid Snake What are you doing these days? / Roy Campbell: I'm working for an organization under the UN Security Council. The analysis and assessment staff of the PMC Oversight and Inspection Committee / Solid Snake: Yeah, I remember the resolution being passed a few years ago.

^ abKojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. Raiden: You said miscarriage.... / Rosemary: I lied. I had a healthy baby boy. Roy pretended to by my husband... To protect me... And our son. Only until you'd completed your mission. To shield us from Patriot eyes. [...] / Raiden: I'll never leave you alone again. Like a scene from Beauty and the Beast. / Rosemary: Don't say that. You're no beast. You're my husband. And his father. And me... I'm going to do my very best... To be the wife and mother this family deserves.

^Naked Snake: So why'd you quit the JSDF?Kaz: Because I didn't have a reason to be in Japan anymore.Naked Snake: Reason?Kaz: My mom had died three years earlier, so I didn't have to care for her anymore, so there was no more reason to hang around in Japan.Naked Snake: Yeah, but a man with your talents could have risen pretty high in the ranks, I imagine.Kaz: I don't know what they made of me. Could be it actually alienated me from the brass...and personally I could never get used to the idea of exclusive defense.Naked Snake: Meaning?Kaz: I can see how a country would go with the exclusive defense model used by the JSDF, and I've got nothing against my fellow soldiers who believe in it. On a tactical level, though, it just rubbed me the wrong way. To put it simply, I was itching for a real fight. (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Konami, 2010)

^Solid Snake: To kill me? Is that all you cared about? // Naomi Hunter: Yes. That's right. Two years. You were all I thought about for two long years... like some kind of twisted obsession... (Metal Gear Solid)

^Solid Snake: Naomi, Liquid died from Fox Die too. What about me? When am I gonna go? // Naomi Hunter: That's up to you. // Solid Snake: What do you mean? // Naomi Hunter: Everybody dies when their time's up... // Solid Snake: Yeah, so when's mine up? // Naomi Hunter: It's up to you how you use the time left to you. Live, Snake. That's all I can say to you. (Metal Gear Solid)

^Naomi Hunter was formally taken into custody after the incident's conclusion. Three weeks later, as she was undergoing debriefing in a certain facility, she escaped... I knew of only one person who could have breached the base's tight security and successfully led someone to freedom. (Metal Gear Solid 2)

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Naomi: Vamp and I... We are the same. We're living corpses... Our bodies kept barely alive by nanomachines. / Snake: Then you... / Naomi: Cancer. I shouldn't even be alive right now. The nanomachines have kept it from progressing... But there's nothing more they can do. With the nanomachines gone... Time will unfreeze and begin to flow again.

^KCEJ. "Metal Gear Solid". Roy Campbell: This is Mei Ling. She was assigned to us as our visual and data processing specialist. She designed your codec, as well as your Soliton radar system. Contact her if you have any questions about either of them.

^Mei Ling: Ooh! How cuute! / Solid Snake: What? The yellow thing?" / Mei Ling: That's Pikachu. It's a Pokémon. They're popular all over the world, you know. And it may look cute, but be careful. It can store large amounts of electricity in those adorable little cheeks. It'll try to pepper you with electric shocks.

^KCEJ. "Metal Gear Solid". Psycho Mantis: The first person whose mind I dove into was my father's. I saw nothing but disgust and hatred for me in his heart. My mother died in childbirth... and he despised me for it... I thought my father was going to kill me. That's when my future disappeared. I lost my past as well. When I came to, the village was engulfed in flames...

^Liquid Snake: Perhaps there's a spy among us... Mantis is dead. We've also got to find out what killed Baker and [Decoy Octopus].

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots". Drebin: It wasn't her will that controlled the BBs. It was Psycho Mantis, half-assimilated into her soul, pulling the strings. Screaming Mantis was just another puppet.

^Naomi Hunter: From there he joined those rent-a-war bastards at Outer Heaven inc. (Metal Gear Solid)

^Solid Snake: You were the one in the M1 tank? Must have been a tight fit for a big boy like you (Metal Gear Solid)

^ abVulcan Raven: You are a snake which was not created by Nature. You and the Boss... you are from another world... a world that I do not wish to know. Go and do battle with him. I will be watching from above. First, I'll give you a hint... The man who you saw die before your eyes... that was not the DARPA Chief. It was Decoy Octopus. A member of FOX-HOUND. He was a master of disguise. He copied his subjects down to the blood. So he drained the Chief's blood and took it into himself. But he wasn't able to deceive the FOXDIE. (Metal Gear Solid).

^Campbell: Of course. A nuclear weapons specialist has already been assigned to us. // Solid Snake: We need backup from a specialist. I'm just an amateur when it comes to nuclear weapons. // Roy Campbell: I know. That's why I've requested the assistance of a military analyst named Nastasha Romanenko. She'll be providing you backup by Codec. (Metal Gear Solid)

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots". Big Mama: Ocelot tortured the DARPA Chief, Donald Anderson - also known as Sigint - to death... And made it look like an accident. With Para-Medic and Sigint dead, Zero was the only one left.

^Jim Houseman: I see. Oh well that's okay... You two are an embarrassment from the 1970s. ...our country's dirty little secret. You can't be allowed to live. Well, the bombs will be dropping soon, and you two have a lot of catching up to do. Farewell. (Metal Gear Solid)

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Solid Snake: Daughter of Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich, ex-GRU and former Spetsnaz commander... She's the leader of Colonel Gurlukovich's private army that's been wandering around the Big Shell. Those men were gathered by Colonel Gurlukovich. Following his death, she inherited his command and now exercises full control.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Olga: I was sent to provide you support. / Raiden: Support? Who sent you? The Colonel? / Olga: No... the Patriots. [...]My child is... being held hostage by the Patriots.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Olga: Your nanomachines -- they're transmitting your vital signs to the Patriots. If you die, my child dies. Do you understand? / Raiden: The child... / Solidus Snake: I see -- so that's why you sold your troops out to me. So many dead, and they all died trusting you! Weren't they your comrades? / Olga: No, not just comrades! Family! I know I'm going to hell. But at least my child!!

^ abKojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Solidus Snake: The eighties... the civil war. You were one of the best among the child soldiers that fought in that conflict. When you were barely ten years old, you became the leader of the small boys unit. [...] I was your godfather, I named you.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Colonel: You have two missions objectives. One: infiltrate the offshore decontamination facility "Big Shell" and safeguard the President and other hostages. And two: disarm the terrorists by any means necessary.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Rosemary: No, it's something else. That day at Federal Hall two years ago -- it wasn't a coincidence. I was ordered to keep an eye on you... / Raiden: Keep an eye on me? / Rosemary: Yes -- by the Patriots. / Raiden: You're a spy. [...] / Rosemary: Jack, I thought I was acting, because that was my job. But I did fall in love with you, that wasn't an act.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Raiden: Of course. This is where we first met... I remember now -- Today is the day I met you. That's it. I think I found something to pass along to the future. He said all living things want their genes to live on. / Rosemary: Are you talking about the baby? / Raiden: Yeah. But genes aren't the only thing you pass on. There are too many things that aren't written into our DNA. It's up to us to teach that to our children.

^Konami Computer Entertainment Japan. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Liberty". Solid Snake: During those two days, he survived by feeding on the blood of his family to quench his thirst. That's how he acquired a taste for blood. / Raiden: So that's why they call him Vamp... / Solid Snake: No, Vamp isn't for "vampire". It's because he's bisexual.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Naomi Hunter: The nanomachines in his body cause his wounds to close and heal at an accelerated rate. Someone took the basic nanomachine technology I once researched and perfected it. In a sense, I'm responsible for Vamp.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Naomi: Now you can return to your true self. You can be at peace. / Vamp: I can... Die? / Naomi: Yes.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Solid Snake: You mean Fortune? She's the Dead Cell leader. Her real name is Helena Dolph Jackson... known to her friends as Lady Luck. / Raiden: Lady Luck? / Solid Snake: Yeah. She got the name because bullets seem to veer away from her in battle. People have heard her say that her fortune in battle was payback for the lousy luck she's had in life...

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Fortune: Vamp. Are you gone? No. No that bullet was ment for me... Why am I the only one that can't die? Alone again... Cheated out of death again... How long will you force me to live? How much longer dad?

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Fortune: It's been a long wait, Solid Snake -- the root of all my sorrows. / Solid Snake: What? / Fortune: Two years ago, you killed my father. That was the beginning of hell for us.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Revolver Ocelot: You were being shielded by the electromagnetic weapons technology that the Patriots developed. Your Dead Cell comrades loved your father and husband -- we needed a pathetic wretch like you to keep them focused.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Fatman: Oh, you'll know soon enough. And I could care less of what they planned. My ambitions are much more simple. To be the most famous bomber of them all. / Raiden: Your nuts, nobody is gonna give a damn about you. / Fatman: Oh yes they will. I'll go down in history -- as the man who beat Peter Stillman. That's the only reason I existed.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. President Johnson: My predecessor... George Sears. That was the name the public came to know him by. But I knew him by his codename, "Solidus Snake." He was the third Snake, preceded by Solid and Liquid... a survivor of the Les Enfants Terrible project. Neither Solid nor Liquid, he was a well-balanced masterpiece that the Patriots saw fit to entrust with the Presidency.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Solidus Snake: All I want is to be remembered. By other people, by history. The Patriots are trying to protect their power, their own interests, by controlling the digital flow of information. I want my memory, my existence to remain. Unlike an intron of history, I will be remembered as an exon. That will be my legacy, my mark on history. But the Patriots would deny us even that, I will triumph over the Patriots, and liberate us all. And we will become the "Sons of Liberty"!

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Solidus Snake: I have other reasons for wanting you dead. The clues to the Patriots inside GW have been erased, but are other traces.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Big Boss: That body Liquid burned on the Volta... Wasn't mine. That was the body... Of a clone. Solidus. He was a perfect clone. Zero, and the proxy AIs that came after him, were convinced that Solidus was me.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Emma: No! He left me... my mother -- when we needed him the most! When my father died, all he could think about was himself! / Raiden: Emma, we can go over all that later. But first, we have to get out of here! / Emma: No! I hate water! It's hopeless! I can't swim!

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". Konami. Otacon: You don't hate me? / Emma Emmerich: Never... I never wanted to get in your way... I never wanted to hurt you... I thought with Arsenal... If I follow in your footsteps... I could be closer... I just wanted you to look at me... look at me... as a woman...

^ abKojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. Big Mama: Zero created the Patriots to manage and control the American state. That control endured long after the Cold War ended. The organization became an empty shell, continuing to function through AIs.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. Big Mama: "Give birth to Big Boss." To realize this, I asked to serve as the surrogate mother... And was more than happy to carry you in my womb. I loved him. Nine months later, I gave birth to two Big Bosses... You, and Liquid. [...] Determined to oppose Zero and his plans, Big Boss broke away from the Patriots.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops". Konami. Naked Snake: Sokolov! You're alive! Of course! So you're the Ghost. You designed the Shagohod, so naturally you'd know about Granin's Metal Gear too... That's why! / Gene: Ah! So it was you who was feeding Snake information, Sokolov. Of all people, I never thought you would betray me. / Sokolov: ...Yes, you did rescue me from that prison camp in Russia. Thanks for you, I was reunited with my family... for a little while, at least. I will always be grateful to you for that... But launching Metal Gear into Russia - that I cannot condone. I simply could not bear to see my own creation turned against the Motherland.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. Zero: The first member of the support team will be in charge of monitoring your physical condition - acting a medic, so to speak - as well as recording your mission data. She's a member of FOX as well and she's here on the gunship with me.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. Big Mama: And so, Zero secretly embarked on a new project: Les Enfants Terribles. Its goal was to create a clone of Big Boss, the ultimate soldier. The project was led by Dr. Clark, known at the time as Para-Medic.

^KCEJ. "Metal Gear Solid". Konami. Naomi: It happened before I joined FOX-HOUND's medical staff. They were using a soldier for their gene therapy experiments. [...] It happened right after you retired. My predecessor, Dr. Clark, was in charge. [...] / Solid Snake: And where is he now? / Naomi: He was killed in an explosion in his lab two years ago. / Naomi: Apparently for their test subject, they decided to use the body of a soldier who was recovered after the fall of Zanzibar... / Solid Snake: And that was Gray Fox...

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. Signit: The Pain is said to possess the power to control his hornets at will. Watch out for insect-based attack, especially his so-called bullet bees.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. The Fear: That bolt is coated with the venom of the Brazilian Wandering Spider.

^Sigint: Sounds like the Cobra Unit's members' names came from the specific emotions they each carry into battle. // Naked Snake: Emotions? // Sigint: Yeah. For unbearable torment, The Pain. For true oblivion, The End. For infinite rage, The Fury. For absolute terror, The Fear. And for unsurpassed bliss, The Joy. (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami, 2004)

^EVA: I heard that one of the Cobras is waiting for you in the jungle at the foot of the mountains. He's a legendary sniper called The End. // Naked Snake: Yeah, I've seen him before. That ridiculously old guy, right? // EVA: Don't underestimate him. He's known as the father of modern sniping. (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, 2005

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. The Fury: I am The Fury! The flames of my rage will incinerate you! I came back from space. As I returned, I had one vision: the world set ablaze. And do you know what I saw there? Fury! A great and terrible fury at being alive. Now - you're going to feel the scorching of that terrible blackness!

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. Zero: The Sorrow was a man with, well... special powers. He had ESP, which was the subject of extensive research in the Soviet Union at the time. He was especially gifted as a medium.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. The Boss: I was pregnant at the time. The Sorrow was the father. I gave birth on the field of battle.

^EVA: The Boss once again made her way into the Soviet Union. There, she found herself face to face with the Soviets' own agent... And who would she find awaiting her return to Russia? The one who'd turned her sleeper against her, who'd fed them lies all this time? It was her former comrade-in-arms, the father of her child. The man known as The Sorrow... Former lovers, forced to fight to the death. "One would live, and one would die," she told me. (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker)

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. Naked Snake: Snake: So he was never there in the first place... he just couldn't let go of The Boss...

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Konami. Naked Snake: Are you one of the Cobras? / The Sorrow: Sad... so sad... a host of sorrows. And you are one of them. I am The Sorrow.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. The Sorrow: The spirit of the warrior... will always be with you.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Hal Emmerich: Sunny was taken by the Patriots right after she was born. She never even met her parents. She spent her entire childhood inside the net.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Konami. Solid Snake: Jack's gone? I used to work with the guy. He saved Sunny from the Patriots.

^Kojima Productions, Platinum Games. "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance". Konami. Raiden: After the dust settled, Dr. Emmerich adopted her, officially becoming her legal guardian. / Courtney: But how did she end up in Solis? What about school? […]So now she's designing launch vehicles and stuff, eh?

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots". Drebin: You've never heard of 'em? They're Beauty and the Beast. Together they're called the B&B Corps. They're a squad of enhanced female soldiers - belong to the PMCs. Any time there's a mess that needs cleaning up, they're on the scene leading the elites.

^Kojima Productions. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots". Drebin: The Patriots raised me to be a gun launderer. / Otacon: The Patriots? / Drebin: They kidnapped me... Forced me to fight. Yup. [...] In fact... I was under strict orders to back you guys from the start.

^Hal Emmerich: The truth is...my grandfather was a part of the Manhattan Project. He suffered with the guilt for the rest of his life. And my father...he was born on August 6th, 1945.Solid Snake: The day of the Hiroshima bomb... God's got a sense of humor, all right. (Metal Gear Solid)

^Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Kojima Productions (2010).Hot Coldman: I know all about you. Tselinoyarsk? Ten years ago? / Big Boss: You were involved...? / Hot Coldman: The operation to eliminate the traitor? I planned the whole thing. / Big Boss: Shouldn't a suit like you be back at Langley? What the hell are you doing here? / Hot Coldman: ...It's what the CIA does best. Ensure people in the know keep their mouths shut, or else pack them off someplace where there's no one to listen.

^Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Kojima Productions (2010)Snake (Big Boss): You seem like a very... how do I put this... uninhibited woman. / Cécile Cosima Caminades: You think so? I am no different from other Parisian women. Not since May 1968.

^Kevin Washington: Sounds like Monsoon was a victim of the Khmer Rouge. // Raiden: Yeah. Pol Pot's regime. They killed nearly the entire intellectual class of Cambodia... All in an attempt to create a communist agrarian society. // Kevin: Some reports claim that they wiped out a third of the entire population. Just insane... Even without knowing exactly what happened to him there... You can start to see why he thinks the world is diseased. // Raiden: Yeah, I'm sure that's what gave him his whole survival-of-the-fittest worldview... Just one long series of traumatic events... // Kevin: Well, directly or otherwise, the Khmer Rouge messed up a whole lotta lives... But all of their victims didn't start thinking like Monsoon. People have to stop the cycle of violence somewhere... Stop the bad meme, I guess you could say. Course that's easy for me to say, having grown up in a nice, stable First World country... // Raiden: Nah, I get it. Growing up in bad circumstances... It's no excuse for the crimes you commit. // Kevin: Yeah... (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)

^Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001)Raiden: What you do isn't grassroots activism. It's more like terrorism. // Solid Snake: I admit that... // Otacon: But our group, Philanthropy, received some information: A new Metal Gear prototype was being developed here and, terrorists were planning to raid the facility. The info came from a very reliable source.